North Carolina Realtors Share Their Strategy for $46 Million Sales Volume
Hard Work, Consistency, and Community Service.
Marissa Boyle and Alison Alston of Team Lodestone at Costello Real Estate & Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina, share the strategy that helped them achieve $46 million in sales volume. They were ranked No. 63 Teams by Sides and No. 54 Teams by Volume in North Carolina in the 2019 REAL Trends + Tom Ferry America’s Best Real Estate Professionals.
A former hedge fund analyst, Marissa Boyle came to Charlotte from the West Coast during the Great Recession to acquire foreclosure and REO properties. “The funds had about 2,000 homes under management in Nashville, Tampa, Orlando, and Charlotte,” Boyle says. While underwriting properties, she decided to open her own boutique brokerage.
“My passion lies in teaching people how to create wealth through real estate,” Boyle says. “This summer I sold the team to take on a coaching role.” Her colleague Alison Alston assumed the leadership role. “I have a great partner in Marissa; the two of us bring a lot to the table and we both genuinely care about our community,” Alston says.
Here are their keys to success:
Top-Notch Service
All clients receive concierge-level service. “If they have kids, we get school information and registration forms and make sure they get tours of those facilities,” Boyle says. “If they have fur babies, we set them up with vets, groomers, doggie daycare, you name it. We’ve all relocated from someplace and wished we had this level of service. It’s great to do high volume and units, but we want the service we provide to be untouchable.”
Be a Community Ambassador
CNBC named Charlotte one of the Top 15 cities in America to start a business in 2017. “It’s an incredible market,” Alston says. “There’s so much change and development happening. A lot of our focus is on corporate relocation and partnering with businesses to make sure we are selling the city to their potential hires,” says, Boyle, “We dial in and know what’s going on in specific areas of town, what developments are coming and what’s been approved by the city council.
Give Back
“Marissa and I attend at least one community event each week,” says Alston, whose background is in nonprofits. Both are active in local charities and fundraisers and host get-togethers with past clients, strategic partners, lenders, closers, human resources managers and corporate recruiters.
“Giving back to the community that gives us so much is very important,” Boyle says. “Our go-to is revitalization projects. The North End is undergoing huge redevelopment and I am working to elevate the community in a strategic and non-harmful way.”
Tie in Technology
The team uses NextMove PRO sales management software to set goals, manage transactions and track conversions. “It was taking us 20 to 30 hours a week to do consolidations and numbers reporting,” Boyle says. “NextMove PRO cut it down to an hour a week, which has been a game-changer. It also helps us determine what our corporate relocation clients need. A CRM component lets us make notes about every transaction. Best of all, it’s easy to use.”
“We are both incredibly blessed with spouses who fully support us and understand the time that it takes to be successful and make a difference,” Alston says. “We don’t look for magic pills or shiny new things—the work works,” Boyle says.
